


Orphanarium

by Shaw



Series: Surviving Your Coworkers: A Cohesive Guide to Working in Blackwatch [13]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-01 10:05:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15140759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaw/pseuds/Shaw
Summary: Genji’s neck tensed at the implication, but Jesse’s mind had already put the piece together. This wasn’t a rogue Omnium bunker at all. This was a refugee camp.





	Orphanarium

They’d been told they were going to be busting an Omnium bunker. That was what they were told, what they believed, what they sincerely thought they were here to do. So far? There hadn’t even been a sign that the warehouse they were slowly casing for security measures was occupied. Jesse found that unbelievable.

 

There was no way that there was a whole squadron of omnics hiding out here, not with how unprotected the place was. They found a couple things that looked like alert systems but they were so… rudimentary. Cans and bottles on strings, hastily put together trip wires that dropped bricks that were nowhere close to hitting their mark. He cast a look to Genji, who seemed to be thinking the same thing. Something was up here. 

 

Eventually, they just went inside. It was obvious that there wasn’t anything to see outside. The two men crept about with some wariness, knowing that this was still a mission and they didn’t know what they would find in this place. Maybe nothing, but always maybe something. 

 

“Those fancy sensors of yours picking up on anything?” Jesse finally asked, voice low in the suffocating silence of the warehouse. Genji didn’t answer for a moment. Jesse followed his line of sight, starting slightly at what he saw. 

 

“What in the world?...” There was a section of the back wall that was… covered with posters. Just normal posters, mostly movie promotions; some of them were of bands and musicians. They looked new too-- newish in the least, their bright colors contrasting against the grey of the warehouse. So someone was here. 

 

“They’re all omnics.” Genji commented. Jesse figured he was right. Very few of the figures on the posters were human. He recognized some of them from Hollywood blockbusters, others were international stars that had managed to avoid the worst of the backlash from the Omnic Crisis. The two men slowly advanced towards the wall of posters, scanning the area for anything else that seemed out of place. The closer they got to the back wall, the more stuff they saw. Food wrappers, oil cans, napkins with blood spotted on them. The oil cans made sense but omnics didn’t eat. Nor did they bleed. 

 

“Genji, I got a bad feelin’ ‘bout this, if I can be straight with ya…” It was then he heard a gun cocking. 

 

Jesse and Genji were turned around, weapons ready to fire before they even really realized what they were looking at. Shaking hands, wide eyes, and a mouth set in a grimace that was supposed to look intimidating but just spoke of fear. 

 

“You’re a kid.” Jesse blurted smartly, brow furrowing. The quaking barrel of the plasma gun that kept noncommittally switching between him and Genji was raised a little higher. The scrappy looking very human child spoke up then. 

 

“Don’t, don’t move! I’ll shoot! Don’t move a muscle!” Genji’s head tilted inquisitively as he looked the kid over. They looked malnourished, skin grimmy and scraped all to Hell and back. Their wrists were thin as sticks and none of their clothing seemed to fit properly. Jesse raised his hands passively in surrender and grunted at Genji to do the same. The man’s shuriken flicked back into his arm as he raised them up. 

 

“Who… Who are you? Did the govs send you? Huh? How’d you find us?” Us. Jesse glanced to Genji to find him looking back. So there were others here. Other kids? What was going on exactly? 

 

“Now, champ, ain’t nothin’ to be ‘fraid of. We ain’t gonna hurt you.” The kid didn’t seem impressed and took a step forward, the pulse charge of their gun firing up. Something on the side of the gun sparked dangerously. The weapon was damaged. Jesse doubted this kid had ever fired it before, but something had them riled up enough at the moment. 

 

“Stop.” Genji commanded, hands coming down to his sides as his eyes narrowed. The kid looked at him, back to Jesse, and back to Genji. The gun slowly lowered, powering down. 

 

“Are you… Are you an omnic? Who did that to you? Did you come here for help? Who is this guy with you?” Genji’s neck tensed at the implication, but Jesse’s mind had already put the piece together. This wasn’t a rogue Omnium bunker at all. This was a refugee camp. 

 

A silence pervaded the group and the kid shuffled in place awkwardly. Genji took a deep breath and finally answered. 

 

“Where are the others? We were told there were omnics here.” After a moment the child frowned. The gun was raised again. Jesse felt a pang of sympathy despite the situation. He knew how this was. A couple strangers showing up, asking all the wrong kinds of questions. 

 

“You still haven’t answered my questions. Who are you and… and why are you here?” Genji’s patience seemed to be thinning, and he took a step forward. The kid stumbled backwards in surprise, gasping. 

 

“Genji, don’t.” Jesse warned lowly. Genji didn’t seem to be listening at first, rather straining against his own hold on himself. He was like a dog, pulling on its leash. 

 

“Don’t come any closer! I’m not joking, okay!? I’ll shoot you! Om, Omnic or not!” Their voice had raised in fear, face twisted in a strain to control it. Jesse’s attention was caught as something came scuttling towards them at an alarming speed. The flash of chipped purple paint and the poorly covered insignia sent a trill of cold anger down his spine and Jesse planted his boot on the bot when it got close enough. 

A slicer. Null sector, to be exact. The thing squirmed pathetically under his boot and he pressed down, ready to crush it underfoot. The scream that followed made him reel back in surprise, thinking it had been from the bot at first. 

 

“Stop! Stop it!” The pulse shot hit Jesse in the knee, searing his pants and flesh into one gross mixture. He hissed in pain and had his own gun back in hand before he could think to not shoot a child. The now sparking slicer was quick to run away, going to hide behind its protector. 

 

“You’re… protecting them. Why.” Jesse wished he’d asked that question first. The slicer peeked out from behind the shaking legs of the kid as they stared in surprise at the wound they’d inflicted to Jesse’s leg. Like they didn’t think they’d actually shoot either. 

 

“They… They didn’t do anything. They don’t want to hurt anyone. They just want to be left alone! So leave us alone!” 

 

“How many more are there. You don’t realize what it is you are doing. You are not as well hidden as you think you are.” Genji’s warning seemed to strike a chord finally and the poor kid burst into tears. The gun was dropped and they fell to their knees. The slicer immediately hopped into their arms and they cradled the bot to their chest like one might a pet. 

 

“Please, please don’t tell anyone we’re here! I don’t wanna move again! D- Do you know how hard it is to, to hide an OR-14? They’re so, f- freaking big!” At the sounds of human distress, something creaked. If Jesse hadn’t just been told better he’d have headshot every last one of the things where they stood. A whole slew of omnics came out of hiding, rushing to aid. Human models, aged Bastions, three whole OR-14’s, and more. Several of them sported aged paint from old extremists groups or God program factions. The whole lot of them appeared to be in various stages of disrepair, things held together with duct tape or replaced with unconventional parts. 

 

“Holy shit, kid.” Was all he had to say. The OR-14’s formed a protective line between them and the child, facial lights blinking rapidly. Their guns were covered by what looked like pillow cases. It was ridiculous. 

 

“We were sent here to eradicate you. We were told this was a bunker of rogues.” Genji finally admitted the truth. It might as well come out, now that the secret was busted. The kid had what could count as a small militia of omnics. Where the Hell they’d all been hiding before was a mystery, but this was a warehouse. If there was ever a surplus of places to hide, it’d be in a place like this. 

 

“That’s not, that’s not the truth!”

 

“Obviously not, champ. How long have you been doin’ this? You ain’t even old enough to know what some of these bots are.” Jesse couldn’t take his eyes off of the Bastion units. He’d had the pleasure of not fighting against too many of those bastards, but he’d heard the stories. They were dangerous and at times? Sadistic. These ones, they seemed nervous. 

 

“A… A couple years, since my dad…” Jesse’s chest constricted. Ah, so that was how it was. The kid was a verifiable orphan. Genji shifted next to him before walking forward. The OR-14’s didn’t seem pleased by this but didn’t attack, merely shuffled awkwardly in place on their four legs and tried to make sense of the man’s intentions. 

 

“You need to get out of here. Our superiors will not be happy to know we didn’t complete this mission because we were swayed by crocodile tears.” The kid seemed confused but merely sniffled. Jesse didn’t like how Genji implied this was all a fib; it would sure as fuck sound like a lie if they tried to go back to base and tell them they got turned around by some kid with a stolen pulse gun. Sorry Boss, ya see it was all a big misunderstanding, no rogues here, just some possible war criminals and smuggled bots that should’a been dismantled a long time ago! 

 

“I don’t know where we’re gonna go… We haven’t even been here that long…” Despite his knee jerk reaction, every fibre of Jesse’s being was telling him to try and help this kid. They were trying to do something good by these bots. Trying to give them something when they had so damn little to begin with. If Jesse had been more a crying man he’d have shed a few tears. Life could be damn unfair, couldn’t it? 

 

“Listen, champ, ain’t nothin’ we can do ‘bout that. But we need’a blow this place like a popsicle stand in July. Can’t have you in here when we do that. We’ll give ya ‘til nightfall to get your accords about ya.” Despite the devastated look that fell upon the kids face, they took a deep breath and stood. The slicer squirmed a bit at being picked up and the kid set them down gently. It shook like a dog and trotted a ways to join up with an old Eradicator unit that looked like its weaponry had been straight ripped off. 

 

“Until nightfall… Okay… I, I think we can… I think we can do that. Can you at least tell me who you are now? I’m G1N4.” Jesse was not one to squirm but something about this kid not having a proper name rubbed him wrong. He tipped his hat down, taking a deep breath. Genji seemed to be waiting for him to answer on his own behalf. 

 

“Name’s McCree. This here’s Genji. You gotta keep those names under lock an’ key though, right, champ? Ain’t nobody supposed to know we were here.” G1N4 nodded slowly, mouth drawn taunt with a frown. Their tears had mostly dried up already which was commendable if Jesse had anything to say about it. Genji murmured something, staring at the omnics that were still skittering nervously around their child savior. 

 

“Nightfall. You see that sun settin’ you best get your ass in gear and get the Hell outta Dodge.” He reiterated. G1N4 seemed to have accepted this reality already, slowly walking over to the wall with the posters. The two men watched them slowly take them all down and fold them up. A couple of the omnics with proper hands helped in the process, but most went off on their own business. 

 

Neither of the agents felt like sticking around much longer after that. This whole thing had a stink to it that didn’t settle right. How could they have information that was so wrong? Their whole business was about knowing things and having no room for doubt. There were questions to be asked that itched like fleas in Jesse’s brain. 

 

 

“Whad’ya make of this.” His own voice sounded strange to him in the silence. They’d already laid out all the explosives. It was subtle work, pinpointed on the support system of the building. They just needed to sabotage enough of the structural integrity to bring the place to the ground, no need for anything else. 

 

Genji looked at Jesse. He said nothing in return and once more Jesse wished he’d just take off the face plate. 

 

“You want the honors? If that kid’s still in there…” Jesse didn’t want to be responsible for it. Maybe it was a little selfish to make Genji do it instead-- he already had enough on his plate-- but there were lines you didn’t cross. Jesse stood by that, but Genji didn’t have lines to cross anymore. 

 

“Hm…” A botched pass of the detonator had Jesse fumbling with Genji’s robotic hand, the latter making a noise of frustration before managing to grasp it properly. Before they could get too nervous about G1N4 and their band of mangled misfits, Genji thumbed the button. Several muffled bangs went off in the building and the two men paced a couple steps back as the building groaned in protest. 

 

As it collapsed in on itself, Jesse flicked out a cigarillo. He sat there gnawing on the end of it for a moment before actually lighting up. At the prompt of a slight neurological sting one might get when someone is staring at them hard enough, Jesse turned to Genji. As he suspected. The man was looking holes clean through him. 

 

“Now, don’t be like that.” Genji merely shook his head. 

 

“You are a hypocrite, Agent McCree.” There was a moment of silence as Jesse let the smoke from a particularly deep drag simmer in his lungs. 

 

“I prefer to think of myself more as a complex, enigmatic man of many facets.” As he spoke, smoke curled off his tongue and lips. Genji’s eyes flickered on it before he turned away. 

 

“You should not smoke around me. It’s rude.” Jesse frowned slightly. He put the unfinished smoke out with a lick and a pinch and put it away. He cast one last glance to the rubble of the building they’d destroyed, G1N4 briefly on the mind; Then they walked away.

**Author's Note:**

> Self indulgent? Me? Maybe. I like to think that despite all his flaws and problems McCree has a soft spot for kids who remind him a bit too much of himself when he was younger. Thanks for reading; kudos if you're bold and comment if you're brave. Addio


End file.
